Marcos Hurt A Nation

September 30, 1989

When Ferdinand Marcos' mother died earlier this year, President Corazon Aquino would not let Marcos return to the Philippines to bury her. Now Marcos is dead, and Aquino will not allow his body to be returned for burial.

It is a sad ending for a man who ruled his nation for two decades, but it is an ending he brought upon himself. With power comes responsibility. Marcos used his power to enrich himself and his friends. His greed and corruption impoverished and destabilized a whole nation.

Aquino struggles today to preserve a democratic regime in the face of mass poverty and insurrections. While many Pacific nations are booming, the Philippines is groping to build consensus and prosperity. Had Marcos cared more about his country than about his wallet and ego, that would most likely not be the case.

The United States has a special relationship with the Philippines, and that relationship has not always received the best care. Marcos, who started out as a reformer, long ago showed his true colors. But the United States, enchanted by his anti-communism, stood by while Marcos wrecked his nation's political and economic institutions.

As a young man, Marcos was convicted of killing the man who defeated his father in an election. A higher court later reversed the conviction. More than 40 years later, Marcos' chief political opponent was assassinated as he returned to the Philippines.

This time, the people of the Philippines served as the high court, and they saw Marcos' shadow behind the assassination. That was the beginning of the end. The whole nation revolted.

What followed was a triumph of the people over the greed and power of a dictator. Led by Corazon Aquino, the wife of Marcos' murdered opponent, the people of the Philippines cast off the man who had ruined them. Marcos died in exile Thursday.

But the problems he failed to solve and the ones he created remained. He left a divided, hurt nation. Maybe when the nation is healed, Marcos' body will be allowed back for burial.